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2014 Hockenheim II
The 2014 DTM Season Finale otherwise known as DTM 2014 Hockenheim II, was the final round of the 2014 DTM Championship, held at the Hockenheimring. The attention ahead of the weekend was on the battle for second in the Championship with Marco Wittmann already the Champion. Also requiring attention was the Brands' Championship, with BMW and Audi set to do battle on the final day for the title. Both of those feats went to Audi, with taking victory and runner-up in the Championship, with Mike Rockenfeller and Jamie Green on the podium. The Audi 1-2-3 also saw them overhaul BMW in the Brands' Championship, with Wittmann receiving his trophy and BMW Team RMG crowned Teams' Champions. Background With Wittmann already Champion, it was battle stations to be runner-up, with three drivers in the fight to be second best. Victory for in Zandvoort meant he held the position by twelve points from Christian Vietoris, the best placed Mercedes driver. Just one point further back was Edoardo Mortara, who had been second to Wittmann for the majority of the season, with Mike Rockenfeller the first of those out of the fight in sixth. Like the Drivers' Championship, the Teams' Championship had already been decided prior to the Finale, with BMW Team RMG well ahead and safe. That left another exciting battle to be runner-up, with just 24 points separating Abt Sportsline in second, and BMW Team Schnitzer in sixth. Team HWA, Team Abt and Team Phoenix were also in the hunt, with a maximum 43 points available at the finale, which would prove decisive to any one of the teams. Audi and BMW, meanwhile, were set for one final duel in the Brands' Championship with Mercedes a very distant third. BMW had managed to pull a small 21 point gap at Zandvoort over the Ingolstadt manufacturer, although their opponents were traditionally at their strongest in Hockenheim. But, BMW were hunting their third straight title since their return, and with all three cars seemingly equal in pace over the final weeks of the season, the result was up in the air. Away from the Championships, there was a significant statement by ITR e.V., the rights holders to the DTM, about the future of the series. A combined press release with the organisers of the Super GT series announced the release of the new "Class One" regulations, set to be introduced in 2017.'DTM AND SUPER-GT AGREE UPON NEW CLASS ONE REGULATIONS', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 30/09/2014), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/dtm-and-super-gt-agree-upon-new-class-one-regulations-2014-09-30.html, (Accessed 22/10/2015) According to the statement, all future DTM and Super GT cars would have two litre, four cylinder engines, with turbo chargers, while the existing aero and chassis agreements would be maintained. IMSA were also involved in the agreement, expressing a wish to create a North American based version of the series, based on the new "Class One" rules. Entries Below is the entry list for the : Qualifying A dry Saturday afternoon meant the ever competitive qualifying session would be at its fastest, with the Hockenheimring in prime condition for the final pole fight of the year.'MIGUEL MOLINA CLAIMS FINAL POLE POSITION OF THE YEAR', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 18/10/2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/miguel-molina-claims-final-pole-position-year-2014-10-18.html, (Accessed 22/10/2015) Q1 What immediately became clear in Q1 was that BMW were not at their best in Hockenheim, with all of their cars either mid-pack or lower. Even Champion Marco Wittmann was struggling, although he was one of their quicker cars, as three fell at the first hurdle. Timo Glock, Martin Tomczyk and Joey Hand all left the session after the first twelve minute session, although they would have two Mercedes for company. Christian Vietoris failed to set a competitive time and so joined them at the back, with only Vitaly Petrov slower than him, the Russian seemingly in his last quali session in the series. Q2 If Q1 was bad for BMW, Q2 proved to be Armageddon for Mercedes too, as Audi almost claimed a clean sweep of the Q3 positions on offer. Mike Rockenfeller set the fastest time of the session to be fastest, ahead of Miguel Molina, as Audi took six of the eight spots on offer, with Mercedes and BMW getting one car through each. Pascal Wehrlein and Augusto Farfus were the two to displace the slowest pair of Audis, those of Adrien Tambay and . Q3 It seemed inevitable that an Audi driver would secure pole for the race, and so it proved with Molina sweeping to the front of the field in the final minutes to take his fourth pole start. improved late on to take second, with Edoardo Mortara completing an all Audi top three, ahead of Farfus in the sole BMW. The other interloper Wehrlein claimed sixth behind Jamie Green, with Rockenfeller and Timo Scheider completing the top eight, both having set times which would have seen them eliminated in Q2. Post-Qualifying Below are the full qualifying results for the weekend: Race With the field lining up for the final race of the season, attention was on who would finish second in the Championship. 's second place in quali meant he had the advantage, with Edoardo Mortara next on the grid, and Christian Vietoris well down on the penultimate row. Conditions were ideal for the finale, with Audi in prime position to strike back at BMW and snatch the Brands' title, although they would just fall short if the race finished in the order it started. Report Ekstrom made a better start than Miguel Molina on pole to snatch the inside into turn one, although the Spaniard was able to get back at him through the exit.'MATTIAS EKSTRÖM WINS DTM FINALE AT HOCKENHEIM', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 19/10/2014), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/mattias-ekstr-m-wins-dtm-finale-hockenheim-2014-10-19.html, (Accessed 24/10/2015) Jamie Green had a barnstormer to leap into third, with Edoardo Mortara tumbling down the order after a terrible start, as the familiar scattering across the run off at turn one occured. Into turn two, and Molina attempted to snatch the lead back on the brakes, only to lock up and run very wide. Ekstrom snuck past with Green, with Molina ultimately slipping back to fifth behind Farfus and Pascal Wehrlein. Green pulled a move on Ekstrom for the lead into the hairpin on the first lap, as the field went almost six abreast through the infamous Parabolika and the hairpin. Apart from minor damage to several cars, everyone escape unharmed, with Wehrlein snatching third into Mercedes. The German was the second car on soft tyres, with Ekstrom leading those on primes, as news of a jump start for Adrien Tambay saw the Frenchman into the pits. Lap two, and Ekstrom was beginning to fall through the field on his hard tyres, although he was putting up a strong defence against anything that was not wielding four rings. Ultimately, however, the Swede was down to sixth by the end of the lap, and a double move by Bruno Spengler left him a couple of seconds ahead of Mike Rockenfeller, the next car on primes. Christian Vietoris, meanwhile, was using DRS to his advantage when it became active on lap four, breaking into the top ten with a move on Robert Wickens. The German's chances, however, were scuppered by a mistake at the hairpin on lap six, when he drove over one of the huge kerbs that lined the exit of the turn. It left his Mercedes wounded but still fight worthy, with Vietoris rejoining down in twelfth, as Daniel Juncadella became the latest driver to take Ekstrom on soft tyres. Amid the action were a series of warnings from the stewards to several drivers about track limits, with many abusing the run off at turn one throughout the race. Spengler came in on lap fourteen as the pit window opened, signalling the rest of the field to trickle into the pits to swap tyres over the next few laps. Timo Scheider, meanwhile, was keeping the cameras on the circuit for the time being with a move on Molina to climb to fourth, before he became involved in an incident in the pitlane. A good stop had dragged him in with a shout of beating Wehrlein out of the pits, only for Team HWA to release the youngster straight into Scheider's path, earning Wehrlein a trip through the pit lane, and Scheider third. With all the stops out of the way, the focus was back with Ekstrom, who was dragging Rockenfeller in his wake as the two leading cars on soft tyres. They both completed moves on Juncadella to reclaim sixth and seventh in short order, and with the cars lightening, they were the fastest cars on the circuit. They soon passed Spengler to deny BMW further points, with Ekstrom making a move at the Sachs Kurve, and Rockenfeller getting by with an optimistic dive into turn one. As they began their run on Farfus and Molina, a heavily damaged Maxime Martin BMW was hauled back into the pits, the Belgian having had contact that pushed his rear right body work onto his rear tyre. Team mate Marco Wittmann, having one of his worst races of the year after his worst quali result, was battling for the final point with Vietoris, pushing his compatriot out of the points and ending his chances of finishing runner up. Back at the front, and Molina fell all too quickly to Ekstrom and Rockenfeller, as their charge now came up against the first podium slot, held by Farfus. As it happened, their move past the Brazilian was missed by an incident at the back of the field, involving Mortara and Joey Hand, which resulted with the end of the Italian's runner-up bid. Mortara had just been turning into Mercedes, only the have Hand come steaming up the inside, with the American hitting with enough force to put Mortara out of the race. Paul di Resta pulled a move on Spengler for eighth a few laps later, as Ekstrom and Rockenfeller dived past Scheider into the Sachs Kurve, putting both of them on the podium. The gap to Green was relatively big, meaning the next few laps became a case of reeling in their target, with the wheel-to-wheel action occurring lower down. Wittmann was making a late race charge, moving past Molina, followed soon after by di Resta, whose similar charge soon saw him on the back of the German, as both drew in Schedier. Although Ekstrom was drawing in Green, timings meant that he would be on the fringes of catching him by the end of the race. It was therefore a relief for the Swede when the safety car was called with five laps to go to clear up an accident between Spengler and Juncadella. The pair had been exchanging increasingly physical blowes over recent laps, although it was ultimately settled when Juncadella spun all on his own. Damage from their earlier contact was cited as a factor for the Spaniard's off. The safety car left the circuit with two laps to go, meaning it would be a mad dash to the finish line between Green, Ekstrom and Rockenfeller, although with Wittmann and di Resta also on softs, there could be no guarentee of an all Audi podium. As it happened, Scheider put up a brave defence against them at the restart, although di Resta was more focused on passing Wittmann ahead. That allowed Ekstrom and Rockenfeller to attack Green, the Brit forced to relinquish his lead to Ekstrom at the very spot he had earned it at the start. Onto the final lap and di Resta was clear of Scheider (who had also fallen to Wittmann), with the Scot baring down on Green, whose hard tyres would be no match for the softs on the Mercedes. He was therefore fortunate that the race was in its last throes, and as Tambay and Vitaly Petrov tangled in the Motodrom, the chequered flag fell on the season. Ekstrom won for the second race in a row to claim second in the Championship, with Rockenfeller snatching third place in the title fight. Green held of di Resta for third, and with Wittmann (fifth) and Martin Tomczyk (seventh) the only scorers for BMW, Audi were Brands' Champions for the first time since BMW's return. Results The second race final result is displayed below: * Indicates a driver who started on the soft or "option" tyres. Indicates a driver who started on hard or "prime" tyres.'THESE ARE THE TYRES FOR THE START OF THE RACE', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 18/10/2014), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/these-are-tyres-start-race-2014-10-18.html, (Accessed 24/10/2015) Milestones Standings So, Marco Wittmann could finally be crowned Champion of the DTM Championship of 2014, having had to wait since the Lausitzring. He became one of the youngest drivers to ever win the series as a result, while his tally of 156, compared to 's total of 106, meant he had one of the largest winning margins in the series' history. Ekstrom, for his part, was a safe second in the Championship, his two late season wins putting him well clear of his opponents. Completing the top three was Mike Rockenfeller, who leapt into third, with Christian Vietoris (the best Mercedes driver) and Edoardo Mortara failing to score. Like their driver, BMW Team RMG had had to wait until Hockenheim to receive their title, but were also well clear as the dust settled on the Championship. Ekstrom's victory ensured that Abt Sportsline ended the season as runner-up, while Team Phoenix leapt to third on the final day. Team HWA were the best placed Mercedes team in fourth, with the worst of all in twelfth. The Brands' Championship had still been undecided heading into the final race, and a 70 point swing in favour Audi had ultimately proved decisive. Their 1-2-3-6-8 on the final day meant they overhauled BMW to take the Championship by 31 points, with Mercedes a distant third. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:Hockenheim Category:2014 Races Category:Races